High Expansion Foam Test for Wildland Firefighting

We flowed foam using a Chemguard foam generator to see if it would have value in the wildland environment. We used 1000 gallons of water with a 2% foam solution (Hale digital foam system). The test took about ten minutes. The foam line was about 1000-1200 feet, 20-40 feet wide and 2-4 feet deep. Further testing for 'foam and roll' as well as different percents of foam will take place.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• High
• Expansion
• Foam
• wildland
• firefighting
• wetline

[hitachi088]

two thing :

-the terrain was not flat ( like this = ______________ )

-the forest was clean ( they cut the bush on the ground and everything )

but , it was a great demonstration !

[ScrippsC]

@hitachi088 We live in the mountains. For an effective flat ground attack the unit would need to be truck mounted. On the second part the ground was clean to the trees then it was a mix of trees and brush. I was looking for 'combined' ground. The ground was in a natural state in the National Forest. We didn't do any cutting. We were/are trying outside of the box ideas. I also like the Ultra High Pressure (1500 systems in the interface environment (1500psi)

[hitachi088]

@ScrippsC

Thank you for the information , and i was wandering :

is it just soap + water or it is a special chemical ?

and

is it good for the environment ? i mean , is it safe to use ?

[ScrippsC]

@hitachi088 We used Silvex AFFF - Same stuff the Forest Service uses. Limitations include not getting it into streams. It will break down and given the chemistry of soap it may be a good fertilizer. The question to ask is usint it better than the consequences of the fire? If you have lots of water and men and pumps it may not be need as a force multiplier. The mountains in western MT have very little water in the summer. Where in the country are you?

[FoamTech]

We have made a twin unit for the Chicago FD that is truck mounted. One end of a "sock tube" is put over the foam generator discharge and the other end of is put inside a building to fill it with foam.

[ScrippsC]

@FoamTech I have seen you unit in action - it's spectacular! Crawl spaces, basements, compromized structure elements are places we wouldnt put a firefighter but would happily fill with foam. Also add minimun water damage. We are mostly a mountain wildland environment so that was what we were testing for.

[hitachi088]

@ScrippsC

I am currently in Canada.

[VolkgartenBySquirrel]

It works! really well. How long does the foam stay up? I didn't think 1000 gallons would move so far - the gravity assisted foot per gallon runnout is amazing, although in an actual fire you would lose some of that, but even if you could knock it back 100 feet this would make a dootn ridge kit! Thank you for sharing!!